Huskies win intense game, advance to third round

GASTONIA — The game started with an unusual technical foul against Hunter Huss, and it was a few minutes after that before the Huskies started to collect themselves.

His team down eight midway through the first quarter, coach Walt Wallace needed a time out.

“I just told them we were all right,” Wallace said. “That we were getting outhustled to loose balls, we were getting outhustled to rebounds and we were getting outhustled up and down the floor, and if we didn’t change that, we’d be running track or playing baseball or something tomorrow.”

It’s not time for spring sports for these guys just yet as Hunter Huss pulled out a 91-74 home win against Lexington in the second round of the 2A state playoffs Wednesday.

A physical and aggressive Lexington team proved to be a tough matchup for the Big South 2A/3A Conference regular-season champions, but Hunter Huss eventually got going in game filled with tension and reached 90 points for the second straight playoff game.

Fifth-seeded Hunter Huss (22-5) travels to No. 4 seed Newton-Conover (23-5) in Friday’s third round, with a regional berth at stake. Newton-Conover advanced with an 81-52 win against Wheatmore.

Kerrion Moore scored a game-high 29 — mostly on layups — to lead Hunter Huss while O’Brian Curry continued his recent hot stretch with 21 points.

Hunter Huss started in a 1-0 deficit before one second ticked off the clock after Daniel Reid-Bennett made one of two free throws awarded to Lexington because the Hunter Huss scorebook didn’t list the Huskies’ starters. A minute and a half later, Lexington led 7-0 and it was soon 12-4.

The Huskies eventually began to force turnovers and score in transition, helping them take a 16-15 lead by the end of the first quarter.

Hunter Huss led by as many as 13 in the second quarter but Lexington cut it to four on a couple of occasions in the second half, including 68-64 with 5:51 left in the game.

His team down 81-68 with 2:50 left, Lexington coach Jon Weavil was whistled for a technical foul. Lexington’s Shakeem Peterson drew a technical foul two minutes later as Hunter Huss began to pull away and win by a comfortable margin.

“Somebody said this could be a real come-together game for us because we came together as a team and just got a lot of contributions from a lot of guys,” Wallace said. “When we got in foul trouble in the first half, Dalvin Littlejohn really picked us up.”

Devin Cross scored 19 and Reid-Bennett added 14 points for Lexington (18-7), which shared a regular-season conference title with North Rowan. Lexington, making its sixth consecutive second-round appearance, had won its opening-round game 85-68 against West Wilkes.

“We’re very similar, deep, and both teams were playing hard,” Weavil said. “I mean, it’s the state playoffs. You want to move on. It was an intense basketball game.”

Aaron Rohlman added 14 points, Quan McCluney scored 13 and Chadrickus Mackins nine for Hunter Huss, which will make its fourth third-round appearance in five years. Friday will also mark the Huskies’ sixth third-round appearance in nine years.